1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to systems and methods for rewarding players for gaming at casino establishments, and in particular to providing players with real-time incentives while a player is playing at a gaming machine in the casino.
2. Background of the Invention
Commercial enterprises use various methodologies to reward and provide incentives for their customers. Rewarding customers often takes into account the value of the customers to the business. For example, an enterprise may value its customers based on the amount of revenue the enterprise is likely to make from the customer's commercial activity. Identifying customers that generate more revenue for the enterprise allows the enterprise to identify and target those customers for fostering close relationships with them. Enterprises seek to retain these valued customers by keeping them loyal to the enterprise, which is often accomplished through special offers and deals. Many enterprises offer promotions or other programs in which patrons earn value that can be redeemed for goods or services. Such systems are found in many industries, including frequent flyer miles offered by airlines and points offered by many credit card companies.
Complimentaries (commonly referred to as “comps”) and other types of incentives are commonly used in casino environments to increase customer traffic and stimulate specific customer behavior. From a casino's perspective, the value of the casino's patrons, or players, is often based on each player's gaming activity. Gaming activity may include, for example, time gambling, average and total bets, coin in, and other measures of gaming volume or rate of play or a value thereof. The casino benefits from the player loyalty that such a comps promotion creates. Casinos typically use various combinations of comps and other incentives that are believed to reward players for their gaming activity most appropriately. One such program gives players rewards players by granting credits (called “points”) that can be redeemed for cash or cash equivalents.
Determining which players were the “high rollers” and were worth giving comps and other incentives to used to be essentially ad hoc and entirely up the judgment of the casino manager, without any significant element of technological support. As a result, awarding of incentives was typically limited to players of table games (e.g., blackjack, craps, or baccarat), where the player's betting could be observed by a table or pit boss who “rated” the player based on the boss's estimate of the amount of time the player gambled and their average bet. Later-developed slot tracking programs offered the capability to track player betting in slot machines, and in some cases during table play. These slot tracking programs enabled casinos to determine more precisely how much a particular player had gambled in a particular period of time on one or more slot machines. As a result, casinos became able to offer incentives to slot players, who were also valuable to the casino, not only to the high roller table players.
The incentives offered by casinos include items such as free or discounted rooms, vouchers for meals or shows, and coupons for services and the like. Typically, comps are distributed by mailing the player a voucher as well as by providing vouchers at distribution locations in the casino. Some casinos allow players to use a kiosk located on the casino floor to check their ratings and comp level, print vouchers for comps, and/or redeem vouchers.
But the problem with existing comp systems is that they still require the player to leave the gaming machine in order to obtain a comp. That is, existing comp systems do not provide incentives in real-time, while a player is playing at a gaming machine. Because of this limitation, existing systems cannot provide an incentive to a player to continue gaming, since the player will have left the gaming machine, and possibly the casino, before the incentive can be delivered. Moreover, systems that provide offers and other incentives to players after the players have stopped playing miss out on the opportunity to communicate with the player at the most relevant moment when the player is gaming at a machine in the casino. Offers and incentives delivered after the player is done playing, received perhaps in the mail long after a player's trip is over, are not as effective as they would be if provided while the player is at a gaming machine. If received after a player has left the casino, an incentive cannot affect behavior of the player at the gaming machine.
Accordingly, what are needed are automated techniques and systems that allow a casino to direct marketing incentives toward a player while the player is at a gaming machine.